JOHN GOSS

(1800 - 1880)

The English composer and organist John Goss, great-uncle of the Goss-Custard organist brothers, was himself the son of an organist. He served as a chorister in the Chapel Royal from the age of eleven, subsequently studying with Thomas Attwood. He embarked on a career as an organist that took him to Stockwell Chapel, to St Luke’s, Chelsea, and in 1838 to St Paul’s Cathedral, where he succeeded Attwood. In 1856 he was appointed a composer of the Chapel Royal and was knighted in 1872. He composed a quantity of church music and edited collections of chants and hymns for the Anglican liturgy. His chant for Psalm 127 is typical of the elegant simplicity that he could command.